Creating a Color-Blind Friendly Duke Color Package
“Accessible design is good design – it benefits people who don’t have disabilities as well as people who do. Accessibility is all about removing barriers and providing the benefits for everyone.”
Steve Ballmer, former Microsoft CEO (2000-2014)
Principal goals of thesis:
ggtech (Airbnb, Facebook, Google), ggthemes (The Economist, The Wall Street Journal)Data visualization industry expected to nearly double by 2026
Important questions to consider:
To reach largest audience, Duke branding package must consider colorblind accessibility
Empower users to create Duke branded and color-blind friendly visualizations by constructing an R color package.
Accessibility guide ranks color pairing using following categories:
Ad-hoc approach in order to strike a balance between accessibility and recognition of the Duke brand.
theme_duke()theme_duke()theme_duke()scale_duke_continuous()scale_duke_continuous()scale_duke_*_discrete()color and fill aesthetics of ggplot geoms| Color 1 | Color 2 | CCR |
|---|---|---|
| White | Cast Iron | 15.13353 |
| White | Duke Navy Blue | 14.75945 |
| Ginger Beer | Cast Iron | 14.10648 |
| Ginger Beer | Duke Navy Blue | 13.75779 |
| Whisper Gray | Cast Iron | 13.53511 |
scale_duke_color_discrete()scale_duke_fill_discrete()Package development is an iterative process, take your time.
The devtools package is your best friend.
Engage with existing resources online and collaborate with others.
With this information, the Registrar can better make decisions about the distribution of University resources and/or understand potential department popularity.
Helpful resource for the Registrar to pinpoint departments that would benefit from reducing class size.
Visualizations suggest that students do not enroll at a high enough rate to fill Computer Science courses.
May inform the Registrar’s process of 1) adding sections to these courses and/or 2) identifying reasons for these courses’ success.
If the University aims to improve their overall seminar offerings, it is important that they identify departments with lowest proportions.
- “Get it right in black and white” (Muth 2020)
- Use labels, arrows, shapes, annotations to differentiate between categories